United Launch Alliance (ULA) successfully launched an Atlas-V rocket carrying the NROL-107 “Silent Barker” mission today from Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 41. Atlas V lifted off at 8:47 AM EDT under sunny skies in Florida.
SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 from Pad LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on September 3, 2023. This mission carried another batch of Starlink satellites to orbit and it was a record-breaking 62nd orbital launch of the year for SpaceX. There have been 46 launches from Cape Canaveral / Kennedy Space Center this year, with all but two coming from SpaceX.
After a couple of short delays, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 last night from Cape Canaveral, Florida, lofting Starlink 6-8 — twenty-two second-generation Starlink satellites to orbit. The launch was picture-perfect, with the rocket clearly visible for several minutes after liftoff and even well past staging. Thunderstorms well off to the north and east-southeast added to the light show, with dozens of lightning strokes clearly visible but far away enough not to violate any range safety rules.
(Cape Canaveral Florida) SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 carrying Intelsat’s Galaxy 37 communications satellite at 1:00 am EDT on August 3, 2023, after short delays due to weather in the area. Liftoff was scheduled initially for 12:15 am, but small rain showers on or near Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s SLC-40 violated launch criteria, leading to two changes in the planned T-0 time.
SpaceX Starlink 6-6 finally dodged the Florida summer weather and made its way to space early in the evening of July 23, 2023. The launch was from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral.
SpaceX launches another set of Starlink satellites to orbit.
There is a right side (sun behind you) and a wrong side (sun in your face) to photograph a launch. I was on the wrong side today, but that was okay: I met some really nice people, and got to enjoy watching a young fellow who had made the trip from Texas setting up his camera gear for liftoff. He and his mother were delightful.
That’s part of the joy of watching launches from one of the public spots: you never know who you’re going to meet, and it is nice to help them out when I can. I’ve met folks from England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany, The Czech Republic, Russia and most all of the states. To a single one, they were nice people who were really excited to see SpaceX launch a rocket. I hope they all had fun, and I hope they want to come back here again.
Photographically, by no means my best day, but as I mentioned, I was in the wrong place to get great photos in simmering air and a thick, hazy sky. And so it goes…I don’t mind. I had fun anyway. Besides, the video came out better.
The view of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch carrying the SATRIA-1 satellite for Indonesia on June 18, 2023. Shot with a Nikon Z8, using a Nikkor 200-500mm telephoto lens.
The launch was the twelfth flight of Booster 1067, which successfully touched down on the drone ship “A Shortfall of Gravitas” which was pre-positioned offshore prior to the launch. Another ship was out to sea to capture the payload fairings that surrounded the satellite at launch to protect it from atmospheric forces as it ascended towards orbit. Like Booster 1067, SpaceX plans to return the fairings to land for refurbishment and reuse at some point in the future.
Encompassing about 275 square miles of desert aside Holloman Air Force Base between Alamogordo and Las Cruces, New Mexico, White Sands is a procession of dunes on the northern end of the Chihuahuan Desert. Instead of the usual sands that make up most dunes, White Sands is comprised mainly of gypsum (calcium sulfate dihydrate) and is an incredibly bright and soft surface, yet one that is relatively easy to walk on.
Despite warnings of snakes and other desert fauna that can be unkind to humans, many people walk through White Sands barefooted. I wore sandals, but after a while I too decided that that no shoes was the way to go. My feet were not cut, scoured and best of all, bitten after a long hike, and indeed, they were hardly even dusty at the end of the day. It was a pleasant hike, even if it is one that is at “altitude” for many folks, like me — I live at sea level, and did notice the thinner air.
Like most dune fields, those at White Sands are mobile — some more so than others. From the entrance, there is the usual desert flora — yucca plants, skunkbush, cottonwood and so forth, but no creosote plants. The further back you go into the park, though, there are fewer and fewer plants on the landscape, and at some point, it is nothing but the sands.
SpaceX Falcon9 lifted off at half midnight tonight from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station carrying Intelsat 40e to orbit.
I was due East of it, and perfectly aligned with the launch azimuth.
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